(From Wikipedia)
The Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test (UMAT) is a test administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) in Australia and New Zealand to assist in the selection of students into certain health science courses including most medical (MBBS or MBChB) and Dentistry (BDSc or BDS) courses, as well as other health science courses including physiotherapy and pharmacy. The UMAT is used for selection into undergraduate courses only; applicants for graduate courses must sit the GAMSAT. Each year, the UMAT is held on a single day, typically during either late July or early August.
Before the introduction of the UMAT as a component of university entrance requirements, the sole criterion for entry into medical or health science degrees was final year high school (Year 12) results. A consortium of universities found this criterion too restrictive, as it did not reflect all the qualities required to successfully study and practise medicine. Consequently, the UMAT was introduced to assess the qualities deemed by ACER and the UMAT Consortium universities to be important to the study and practice of medicine and the health sciences. These qualities include: critical thinking and problem solving, ability to understand people, and abstract non-verbal reasoning.
The 2005 UMAT consisted of three sections:
A candidate's UMAT score consist of three numbers, one for each section of the test, as well as a percentile ranking (out of 100) for each section. These UMAT scores are valid for 2 years.
The nature of the UMAT is quite different from typical school examinations; academic brilliance does not necessarily equate to an outstanding UMAT result
from http://umatweb.acer.edu.au/images/infobook/UMAT_InfoBook.pdf (part of the official UMAT 2007 information booklet)
Example Questions — Section 2
Bob’s wife, Mary, has been in hospital recovering from a heart
attack. The doctor informs Bob that she is now well enough to
return home, although she will need to ‘take things easy for a
while’.
Bob:
I’m glad she can come home now Doctor, but I’m not
sure I can look after Mary by myself. We live on our own,
you know.
Doctor:
Bob, it’s natural to feel a little anxious, but the best
thing for Mary will be to be back in her own environment.
1.
In his response, the doctor has
A
not realised that Bob is concerned.
B
not really dealt with Bob’s concerns.
C
responded to Bob’s concerns effectively.
D
made Bob feel bad about being concerned.
2.
Following the doctor’s reply, Bob is likely to feel
A
relieved.
B
empowered.
C
embarrassed.
D
apprehensive.
In the following passage, an adolescent boy talks about living
with a physical disability.
As I have been physically disabled all my life, I have managed
to cope with the purely practical problems arising with a
minimum of fuss. I felt no loss, because I had no feelings of
‘normality’ to compare with. One of my physical problems is
that I am short, about 127 centimetres tall. I was constantly
mistaken by strangers for a little kid. It’s a real pain for a
16-year-old boy to be handed a kid’s menu every time he
enters a restaurant. It is even worse when mere coherent
speech is greeted with awe.
3.
For the writer, the main problem with his disability is
A
the embarrassment of being so short.
B
never knowing what it is to be ‘normal’.
C
dealing with other people’s preconceptions.
D
coping with the practical problems caused by his
condition.
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